Rashid Nezhmetdinov

Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov (December 15 1912 – 1974) was an eminent chess player. He was born in Aktubinsk in what is now Kazakhstan, of Tatar ethnicity, and moved to Kazan.

Rashid Nezhmetdinov was a fierce, imaginative, attacking player, feared by many Soviet maestros, but never achieved the GM title.
He won several games against world-class grandmasters such as Mikhail Tal, David Bronstein, Boris Spassky, Lev Polugaevsky and Efim Geller. He achieved a plus score in the 20 games he contested against World Champions. But he lost badly against the strong positional and endgame player Yuri Averbakh +8-0=1, and was also +0-3=2 against excellent defenders Tigran Petrosian[1] and Victor Korchnoi[2].

Quotes

• "Nobody sees combinations like Rashid Nezhmetdinov" Mikhail Botvinnik
• Lev Polugaevsky considers Rashid Nezhmetdinov as "the greatest master of the initiative"

• "His games reveal the beauty of chess and make you love in chess not so much the points and high placings, but the wonderful harmony and elegance of this particular world" Mikhail Tal

• "Rashid Nezhmetdinov is a virtuoso of combinational chess" David Bronstein

However:

1. "...Nezhmetdinov, who if he had the attack, could kill anybody, including Tal. But my score against him was something like 8½–0½ because I did not give him any possibility for an active game. In such cases he would immediately start to spoil his position because he was looking for complications." Yuri Averbakh, interview in The Day Kasparov Quit by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam.

Illustrative games

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Polugaevsky-Nezhmetdinov, position after White's 24th move

This is perhaps Nezhmetdinov's most famous brilliancy, featuring a queen sacrifice:

Polugaevsky-Nezhmetdinov, 28th RSFSR Championship, Sochi 1958 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.e4 exd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qd2 g6 7.b3 Bg7 8.Bb2 O-O 9.Bd3 Ng4 10.Nge2 Qh4 11.Ng3 Nge5 12.O-O f5 13.f3 Bh6 14.Qd1 f4 15.Nge2 g5 16.Nd5 g4 17.g3 fxg3 18.hxg3 Qh3 19.f4 Be6 20.Bc2 Rf7 21.Kf2 Qh2+ 22.Ke3 Bxd5 23.cxd5 Nb4 24.Rh1 Rxf4!! 25.Rxh2 Rf3+ 26.Kd4 Bg7 27.a4 c5+ 28.dxc6 bxc6 29.Bd3 Nexd3+ 30.Kc4 d5+ 31.exd5 cxd5+ 32.Kb5 Rb8+ 33.Ka5 Nc6+ 0-1[3]

Nezhmetdinov-Tal, Baku 1961 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Nbd7 7.O-O a6 8.f4 Qc7 9.g4 b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.Bf3 Nc5 12.Qe2 e5 13.Nf5 g6 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Nh6 Ne6 16.Bg2 Bg7 17.Rxf6 Bxf6 18.Nd5 Qd8 19.Qf2 Nf4 20.Bxf4 exf4 21.e5 Bxe5 22.Re1 f6 23.Nxf6+ Qxf6 24.Qd4 Kf8 25.Rxe5 Qd8 26.Rf5+ gxf5 27.Qxh8+ Ke7 28.Qg7+ Ke6 29.gxf5+ 1-0[4]

Nezhmetdinov-Paoli, Bucharest 1954 (First Brilliancy Prize) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qf3 Be7 8.O-O-O Qc7 9.Rg1 Bd7 10.g4 Nc6 11.Be3 h6 12.h4 Rc8 13.g5 hxg5 14.hxg5 Ne5 15.Qg2 Ng8 16.f4 Nc4 17.Bxc4 Qxc4 18.f5 b5 19.Kb1 b4 20.g6 e5 21.b3 Qxc3 22.gxf7+ Kd8 23.Qxg7 exd4 24.Bxd4 Qxc2+ 25.Ka1 Rh2 26.Bb6+ Rc7 27.Qxg8+ 1-0[5]

Nezhmetdinov-Chernikov, Rostov 1962 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 Ng4 9.Qxg4 Nxd4 10.Qh4 Qa5 11.O-O Bf6 12. Qxf6!? Ne2+ 13.Nxe2 exf6 14.Nc3 Re8 15.Nd5 Re6 16.Bd4 Kg7 17.Rad1 d6 18.Rd3 Bd7 19.Rf3 Bb5 20.Bc3 Qd8 21.Nxf6 Be2 22.Nxh7+ Kg8 23.Rh3 Re5 24.f4 Bxf1 25.Kxf1 Rc8 26.Bd4 b5 27.Ng5 Rc7 28.Bxf7+ Rxf7 29.Rh8+ Kxh8 30.Nxf7+ Kh7 31.Nxd8 Rxe4 32.Nc6 Rxf4+ 33.Ke2 1-0[6]

Further reading

• Nezhmetdinov's Best Games of Chess by Rashid Nezhmetdinov; Caissa Editions, 2000
• Nezhmetdinov's Killer Chess Instinct by Pyshkin : ISBN : 9996301184

External links

• Rashid Nezhmetdinov player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• The Man from Kazan by GM Nigel Davies
• A tribute to a "Secret Hero"
• Some of Nezhmetdinov's games